Thursday, October 27, 2011

GOP Candidates' Tax Plans Would (No Surprise) Reward Rich, Screw Poor

If Cain becomes prez, get read to pay more for this stuff

I am not an economist nor did I stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night, but I have enough smarts (barely) to understand that the tax proposals being pushed by Republican president wannabes are, for the most part, flapdoodle in service of coddling the rich while further screwing the middle class and poor.

That, of course, is exactly what Representative Paul Ryan's deficit reduction plan would do before it unceremoniously died in its crib when the backlash from the elderly, the infirm, the middle class and poor became too loud for the GOP cowards to take.

The latest candidate to join the tax "reform" scrum is Rick ("It's Fun to Accuse the President of Not Being an American" Perry, who in an effort to steal back some of the flat tax thunder of a former pizza magnate who has zoomed past him in the polls, unveiled a plan this week that would replace the graduated income tax with a 20 percent flat rate. The plan should be especially appealing to that wealthy 1 percent that Occupy Wall Street protesters scream about because it would result in a major tax cut for the wealthy, while also eliminating estate and investment taxes.

Perry's through-the-looking-glass plan actually seems moderate compared to Herman ("I'm Blacker Than the President") Cain's already legendary 9-9-9 plan. No, that's not a new area code, but a "reform" (there's that word again) plan under which a 9 percent business flat tax, 9 percent individual flat tax and 9 percent national sales tax would be imposed. The devil, of course, is in the details: Some 84 percent of American households would pay more than they do now with the impact being felt most heavily by the lowest income groups. Again, the 1 percenters would pay considerably less, while staples like milk, bread and eggs would be taxed.

Then there is Mitt ("I am Not a Member of a Cult") Romney, whose wealth is probably greater than the entire Republican field combined. We don't know that for sure because he refuses to release his tax returns, but what we do know for sure is that his tax "reform" (damn!) plan would protect the super rich like himself at the expense of that beleaguered middle class while reducing the tax rate for those poor, pitiful corporations from 35 percent to 25 percent.

The common thread of these plans is their blatant unfairness, and in the cases of Perry and Cain, the unseriousness of the candidates, as well. No one would accuse Romney of being unserious. He's just another super wealthy prick.

1 comment:

Such a great article which That, of course, is exactly what Representative Paul Ryan's deficit reduction plan would do before it unceremoniously died in its crib when the backlash from the elderly, the infirm, the middle class and poor became too loud for the GOP cowards to take. In which The plan should be especially appealing to that wealthy 1 percent that Occupy Wall Street protesters scream about because it would result in a major tax cut for the wealthy, while also eliminating estate and investment taxes.Thanks for sharing this article.

About Me

Shaun Mullen was born to blog. It just took a few years for the medium to catch up to the messenger. Over a long career with newspapers, this award-winning editor and reporter covered the Vietnam War, O.J. Simpson trials, Clinton impeachment circus and coming of Osama bin Laden, among many other big stories. Mullen was a five-time Pulitzer Prize nominee and has covered 12 presidential campaigns. He is the author of "The Bottom of the Fox: A True Story of Love, Devotion & Cold-Blooded Murder" (2010) and "There's A House In The Land: A Tale of the 1970s" (2014). Both books are available for sale online in trade paperback and Kindle editions. Much of Mullen's work is archived and can be accessed online in the Shaun D. Mullen Journalism Papers in Special Collections at the University of Delaware Library.